In a Thursday filing, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said top U.S. government officials from the White House, Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security “have attacked Mr. Abrego in the media in numerous highly prejudicial, inflammatory, and false statements.”
His lawyers said officials have “expressed the opinion that he is guilty of the crimes charged and far worse.”
The Maryland construction worker, 30, was detained Monday in Baltimore by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after leaving a Tennessee jail last Friday, Aug. 22. Administration officials have said he’s part of the dangerous MS-13 gang, and plan to deport him to the African country of Uganda.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have denied allegations that he is part of the gang. In the filing, they referenced statements from officials that label him as someone who’s committed various crimes, even though he hasn’t been convicted of any crimes.
The charges in Tennessee are connected to a 2022 traffic stop, during which officers said he was pulled over for speeding. Abrego Garcia had $1,400 in cash on him and nine passengers in the SUV. Officers had a conversation about their suspicions of smuggling, but he was allowed to drive away with only a warning.
The indictment alleges from 2016 to 2025 Abrego Garcia was involved in a conspiracy to transport migrants who were already in the country. Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty.
This past Monday, shortly after Abrego Garcia was taken into custody, the Department of Homeland Security, on its official X account, posted video of him, handcuffed and shackled, being walked toward an elevator in the Baltimore field office by an ICE agent.
He doesn’t belong here.
He won’t be staying here.
America is a safer nation without this MS-13 Gangbanger in it.Good riddance. pic.twitter.com/ecldKZvuw3
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 26, 2025
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem issued a statement announcing Abrego Garcia’s ICE arrest: “President Trump is not going to allow this illegal alien, who is an MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator, to terrorize American citizens any longer.”
The unproven allegations in the DHS statement are included in the charging documents in the U.S.’s Tennessee case against Abrego Garcia. Government officials have acknowledged the in-depth investigation, and eventual indictment against Abrego Garcia began after he had already filed a federal lawsuit in Maryland, challenging his deportation to El Salvador.
During broadcast and published interviews since Abrego Garcia was taken into ICE custody Monday, government officials have described him as “a gang member and designated terrorist,” as well as a “wife beater, pedophile, human trafficker.”
Noem’s comments included, “He’s a horrible individual who needs to be held accountable for his crimes.”
This is the third request to the judge to stem extrajudicial comments from U.S. officials from any agency who could play a role in Abrego Garcia’s prosecution.
“If the government is allowed to continue this way, it will taint any conceivable jury pool by exposing the entire country to irrelevant, prejudicial, and false claims against Mr. Abrego,” Abrego Garcia’s lawyers wrote.
After being taken into ICE custody earlier this week, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys said he is seeking asylum in the U.S.
Maryland District Court Judge Paula Xinis, who is overseeing a suit challenging Abrego Garcia’s detention and deportation, has ruled the government cannot remove him from the continental U.S. before an evidentiary hearing for the lawsuit on Oct. 6.
She also ordered that he be kept within 200 miles of her court in Greenbelt to ensure he can access his lawyers. He’s being held at a detention facility in Farmville, Virginia, which is west of Richmond, according to ICE’s website.
In a statement emailed to The Associated Press, the Department of Homeland Security said the media has peddled a sob story about Abrego Garcia that has “completely fallen apart.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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